Mexicans Are Generally Pissed About Miley Cyrus Flossing a Butt with Their Flag

Mexicans Are Generally Pissed About Miley Cyrus Flossing a Butt with Their Flag

No one told Miley Cyrus that it's not only rude, but literally illegal, to floss a fake plastic booty with the Mexican flag in Mexico. So when Cyrus's back up dancer used said flag on said booty on Tuesday — which was also Mexican Independence Day — it didn't go down well.

The interior ministry is leaning towards fining the concert promoters Zignia Live for not monitoring the content of the show. In a statement, Zignia publicists argued that they couldn't interfere, but have asked Miley to be more careful from now on. From Milenio:

"The artist brings his show and actually we can not as promoter interfere in what he does... the truth is that this issue in particular is talking to her to have a little more care and will not be repeated in other cities," said Dante Guillen, manager national press and promotion Zignia Live.

In recent years, several artists have been investigated and fined for doing much less to desecrate the flag. As La Prensa noted, actress and singer Thalia was almost fined for posing topless with the flag draped around her until she argued it happened in a different country. Another actress, Paulina Rubio, was fined 53,000 pesos ($4,000) for appearing on the cover of a Spanish magazine wearing only the flag. Both of these incidents are arguably less disrespectful than wiping a butt.

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Mexicans are split over whether this was just another dumb Miley controversy or an affront to the dignity of their country. Everyone agrees that it's trashy, but no one's sure just how much attention it warrants. In other words, they're having the same Miley debate we've been having for the last year: at what point does tastelessness stop (or start) being newsworthy?

Several people were understandably outraged. Quién compiled a list of "celebrity" (mostly journalist) reactions. News anchor Paola Rojas wrote that she was "outraged by what happened in the Miley Cyrus show." Popular writer Fernanda Familiar tweeted that the interior ministry deserved a standing ovation for considering sanctions over the controversy.

There were also calls to move on. Jesus Navarro, one of the members of the Mexican band Reik (they sound like The Backstreet Boys, in a good way) tweeted "Everyone who was offended by what Miley Cyrus did needs to dig a hole, get in there and never leave":

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And Leon Krause, a journalist for Univision LA, wrote "I beg, I implore all of you not to spend a second of your life caring about Miley Cyrus":

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/09/mexicans-are-generally-pissed-about-the-miley-cyrus-flossing-a-butt-with-their-flag/380505/

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